In Print

The whole point of a software-defined data center, some have said, is to introduce resource automation based on the need for those resources at present, not some far-off future date. If efficiency is the goal, why provision more resources than your applications actually require? Moreover, why make a big pool of hardware just so you can subdivide it into clusters that are then sub-subdivided into segments? This was HPE’s hyperconvergence stance in the beginning. Indeed, HPE consulted with Docker Inc. with the intent of treating containerized workloads and virtual machine-based workloads equivalently.

Being seated among the other reporters in the exhibition hall of Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington headquarters last January 21, for the company’s big Windows 10 Consumer Preview event, was like attending a reunion of a PC users’ group from the 1980s, only not in a bowling alley.I saw people with whom, in another era, I engaged in vigorous discussions about the issues that shaped our world: whether security notices should nag PC users, whether lock screens perform vital functions, and the intuitiveness of Ctrl-Alt-Delete.

The immediately shocking thing to me was that we were mostly the same people.

It has been 25 years since the potential market failure of a Microsoft operating system carried serious consequences outside the corporation's own campus. MS-DOS and Windows versions have failed to gain traction before and even been publicly lampooned. But in that quarter-century, Microsoft's dominance of the desktop has kept the platform afloat, even when consumers and businesses stalwartly refused to upgrade.

Today, the word "dominance" doesn't really apply to Windows, and especially not to Microsoft.

Say you found yourself in a Best Buy, or one of those retailers where everything on display was automatically described as "cool." Someone hands you a phone and it has Windows 10 on it, and you say, "cool." And you see a tablet, and it has Windows 10, and there's a laptop with Windows 10.

What do you think at this point? Are you thinking, "Does this mean I can run my same software on all three of these things?" Or is that not something you really need to do? And if it's not, then what's the big deal about Windows 10 being "everywhere?"

Several times during the last six years, my colleagues and I have been told outright that we are our own brands. Well, if that's the case, then I think I could do a better job at marketing mine. No, not with the automated tools that the Web gives us. They resemble marketing about as well as those fake electric football stadiums we played with as kids (remember, the ones that vibrated and made the felt-bottomed players dance on the field) resemble real football. I mean with the same tools that made David Brinkley, James Garner, and Pee-Wee Herman into real stars.

I've been threatening to do this for long enough, and now, here I go. In this first edition of the video series, I diagnose why Windows 8 failed in the market and the public conscience (let's be fair, that's exactly what happened), and propose steps Microsoft may take to restore the next version of Windows to something approaching prominence. You may ask yourself, why should we seek to restore Windows to prominence at all? True, it still holds a grip on the world's desktops, but they're desktops that people use less and less. I have innumerable reasons, but the #1 reason on the list is really the only one that matters to me: I'm dubious of anyone else taking a stab at the world's workspace.

The death of a champion and hero of mine, Robin Williams, has forced me to objectively consider the nature of depression.It’s something I consider subjectively far too often, and not by choice.But when the question is forced to the surface and calls upon an expert to provide an objective answer, there is something inside of me that raises a hand.And that image, in itself, could tell the entire story.

Scott Fulton On Point

First there was the wheel, and you have to admit, the wheel was cool. After that, you had the boat and the hamburger, and technology was chugging right along with that whole evolution thing. Then there was the Web, and you had to wonder, after the wheel and the hamburger, how did things make such a sudden left turn and get so messed up so quickly? Displaying all the symptoms of having spent 35 years in the technology news business, Scott Fulton (often known as Scott M. Fulton, III, formerly known as D. F. Scott, sometimes known as that loud guy in the corner making the hand gestures) has taken it upon himself to move evolution back to a more sensible track. Stay in touch and see how far he gets.

Scott M. Fulton, III, is the author of this blog, and all text contained therein is his own unless otherwise noted explicitly. Some content may have appeared in other publications first, before being reprinted here, and is reprinted according to publishing agreements. Scott Fulton is always responsible for his own content.